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Article
Publication date: 12 November 2021

Chinh Luu, Quynh Duy Bui and Jason von Meding

In October 2020, Vietnam was repeatedly hit by large storms, including Linfa, Nangka, Saudel and Molave, causing heavy rains and whirlwinds in the Central provinces of Vietnam…

Abstract

Purpose

In October 2020, Vietnam was repeatedly hit by large storms, including Linfa, Nangka, Saudel and Molave, causing heavy rains and whirlwinds in the Central provinces of Vietnam. The heavy rain led to severe flooding in many localities. The water levels on major rivers broke records of historical flood events in 1950, 1979, 1999, 2007, 2010 and 2016. In response, this paper aims to quantify the impacts of 2020 flooding to support flood risk management activities and the relief agencies that can use the analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

This study demonstrates an approach to quickly map flood impacts on population, schools, health-care facilities, agriculture, transportation and business facilities and assess flood risks using available data and spatial analysis techniques.

Findings

The results show that all districts of Quang Binh were affected by the event, in which 1,014 residential areas, 70 schools, 13 health-care facilities, 32,558 ha of agriculture lands, 402 km road length, 29 km railway, 35 bridges on roads and 239 business facilities were exposed within flooded areas.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to direct or tangible impacts, including flooded residential areas, schools, health-care facilities, agriculture land categories, road networks and business facilities. Indirect or intangible impacts such as health, flood pollution and business disruption should be considered in further studies.

Practical implications

These detailed impact maps can support decision-makers and local authorities in implementing recovery activities, allocating relief and devoting human resources and developing flood risk management action plans and land-use planning in the future.

Social implications

This study investigates the context of flood impacts on population, schools, health-care facilities, agriculture, transportation and business facilities. Based on this research, decision-makers can better understand how to support affected communities and target the most at risk people with interventions.

Originality/value

This paper presents a framework to quantify the impacts of the 2020 extreme flood event using available data and spatial analysis techniques in support of flood risk management activities.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Anne-Sophie Gousse-Lessard, Philippe Gachon, Lily Lessard, Valérie Vermeulen, Maxime Boivin, Danielle Maltais, Elsa Landaverde, Mélissa Généreux, Bernard Motulsky and Julien Le Beller

The current pandemic and ongoing climate risks highlight the limited capacity of various systems, including health and social ones, to respond to population-scale and long-term…

1861

Abstract

Purpose

The current pandemic and ongoing climate risks highlight the limited capacity of various systems, including health and social ones, to respond to population-scale and long-term threats. Practices to reduce the impacts on the health and well-being of populations must evolve from a reactive mode to preventive, proactive and concerted actions beginning at individual and community levels. Experiences and lessons learned from the pandemic will help to better prevent and reduce the psychosocial impacts of floods, or other hydroclimatic risks, in a climate change context.

Design/methodology/approach

The present paper first describes the complexity and the challenges associated with climate change and systemic risks. It also presents some systemic frameworks of mental health determinants, and provides an overview of the different types of psychosocial impacts of disasters. Through various Quebec case studies and using lessons learned from past and recent flood-related events, recommendations are made on how to better integrate individual and community factors in disaster response.

Findings

Results highlight the fact that people who have been affected by the events are significantly more likely to have mental health problems than those not exposed to flooding. They further demonstrate the adverse and long-term effects of floods on psychological health, notably stemming from indirect stressors at the community and institutional levels. Different strategies are proposed from individual-centered to systemic approaches, in putting forward the advantages from intersectoral and multirisk researches and interventions.

Originality/value

The establishment of an intersectoral flood network, namely the InterSectoral Flood Network of Québec (RIISQ), is presented as an interesting avenue to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and a systemic view of flood risks. Intersectoral work is proving to be a major issue in the management of systemic risks, and should concern communities, health and mental health professionals, and the various levels of governance. As climate change is called upon to lead to more and more systemic risks, close collaboration between all the areas concerned with the management of the factors of vulnerability and exposure of populations will be necessary to respond effectively to damages and impacts (direct and indirect) linked to new meteorological and compound hazards. This means as well to better integrate the communication managers into the risk management team.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 July 2021

Muhammad Najib Razali, Siti Hafsah Zulkarnain and Zakri Tarmidi

This study assesses the effects of flood hazard on property price, which focus on residential property. The growth in the population has resulted in more areas being explored…

Abstract

This study assesses the effects of flood hazard on property price, which focus on residential property. The growth in the population has resulted in more areas being explored, including areas that are prone to flooding. The exploration of a new area for housing development also brings vulnerability to flood hazard. This research employed hedonic regression method to assess the impact of flood to property price between low-flood and non-flood areas. The case study areas are residential properties along Langar River, Selangor, Malaysia. The findings reveal that residential price in case study areas have only little impact in terms of price impact from the flood events. This study also establishes a new valuation model by considering flood hazard. It is expected that the impact from the flood to property price will be significant in future due to changes in property demand patterns as well as the increase in environmental issues.

Details

Water Management and Sustainability in Asia
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-114-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Rotimi Joseph, David Proverbs, Jessica Lamond and Peter Wassell

There has been a significant increase in flooding in the UK over the past ten years. During this time, Government policy has moved from investment in flood defences towards…

1141

Abstract

Purpose

There has been a significant increase in flooding in the UK over the past ten years. During this time, Government policy has moved from investment in flood defences towards encouraging property owners to take responsibility for reducing the impact of flooding. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is for homeowners to adapt their properties to flood risk by implementing property level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures. While there has been some attempt to develop an understanding of the benefits of such measures, these previous studies have their limitations in that the intangible benefits have not been fully considered. As such, there remains a need for further development of these studies towards developing a more comprehensive understanding of PLFRA measures. It is against this background the purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual cost benefit analysis (CBA) framework for PLFRA measure. This framework brings together the key parameters of the costs and benefits of adapting properties to flood risk including the intangible benefits, which have so far been overlooked in previous studies.

Design/methodology/approach

A critical review of the standard methods and existing CBA models of PLFRA measures was undertaken. A synthesis of this literature and the literature on the nature of flooding and measures to reduce and eliminate their impacts provides the basis for the development of a conceptual framework of the costs and benefits of PLFRA measures. Within the developed framework, particular emphasis is placed on the intangible impacts, as these have largely been excluded from previous studies in the domain of PLFRA measures.

Findings

The framework provides a systematic way of assessing the costs and benefits of PLFRA measures. A unique feature of the framework is the inclusion of intangible impacts, such as anxiety and ill health, which are known to be difficult to measure. The study proposes to implement one of the stated preference methods (SPM) of valuation to measure these impacts, known as the willingness to pay method, as part of a survey of homeowners. The inclusion of these intangible impacts provides the potential to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the benefit cost ratio (BCR) for different stakeholders. The newly developed CBA conceptual framework includes four principal components: the tangible benefits to insurers; the tangible benefits to the government; the tangible benefits to homeowners; and the intangible benefits to homeowners.

Originality/value

This tool offers the potential to support government policy concerned with increasing the uptake of PLFRA measures through increasing the information available to homeowners and thereby supporting the decision-making process.

Details

Structural Survey, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-080X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 May 2014

Gode Bola Bosongo, Jean Ndembo Longo, Jacqui Goldin and Vincent Lukanda Muamba

The purpose of the paper is to analyse how floods and droughts affect communities' livelihood in the middle Zambezi river basin and coping mechanisms which households apply to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to analyse how floods and droughts affect communities' livelihood in the middle Zambezi river basin and coping mechanisms which households apply to counter the impact of floods and droughts.

Design/methodology/approach

The method adopted was semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured questionnaires.

Findings

Thematic analysis shows that the major issues affecting communities' livelihood in the middle Zambezi river basin are related to frequent floods and droughts. Floods are due to heavy seasonal rainfall which occurs at the peak of the rainfall season. As for droughts, the frequency of dry-spells of 20 days on average has been observed during the crop season. The impacts of floods and droughts in the district, notably in some wards such as Kanyemba, are the reduction of crop production, food shortages, reduction of agriculture derived income and erosion of social network. Households have responded to these impacts through a number of coping mechanisms including disposal of assets, labour migration, stream bank and floodplain cultivation, piecework, remittance, wild production and fishing. However, such coping mechanisms are short term and some of them are in conflict with the country's environmental laws.

Originality/value

This paper reports a study on the first such finding related to socioeconomic impact of floods and droughts on households located in the middle Zambezi valley which is 500 km from Harare with a specific focus on traditional coping strategies in the face of disasters.

Details

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-8692

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2020

Md. Nawrose Fatemi, Seth Asare Okyere, Stephen Kofi Diko, Matthew Abunyewah, Michihiro Kita and Tahmina Rahman

This paper aims to bring the more recent discourse on the multilayered and interconnected dimensions of flood vulnerability, damage and risk reduction at the microlevel of global…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to bring the more recent discourse on the multilayered and interconnected dimensions of flood vulnerability, damage and risk reduction at the microlevel of global south cities to Dhaka, by looking at multiple factors and their relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional research design was used to generate data from 315 respondents in five neighborhoods in Eastern Dhaka, located in high flood damage zones with previous flood experience, using a structural equation model to test nine hypothetical relationships.

Findings

The model confirms that low socioeconomic conditions often lead households to use social capital to traverse flood vulnerabilities in cities. It also advances this notion to show that flood impact unleashes social capital through collective activities in responding to flooding. Further, it reveals that while socioeconomic conditions influence flood impacts, these also engender the necessary mechanisms to unleash collective responses to flooding.

Practical implications

This paper suggests the need for context-specific interventions that transcend physical and infrastructural responses to integrate socioeconomic conditions as a basis of understanding and addressing flood vulnerabilities. To achieve this requires transcending generic participatory mechanisms to use frameworks that encourage genuine participation and partnerships using coproduction.

Originality/value

This paper engages both the inner city and peri-urban areas of Dhaka to extend current conversations on the various conditions underlying flood impact to offer entry points for integrated flood management interventions at the microlevel. This paper contributes to fill the research gap in Dhaka where very few studies have examined flood damages to residential buildings and its driving factors at the neighborhood level.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2011

Abhijeet Deshmukh, Eun Ho Oh and Makarand Hastak

The purpose of this paper is to assess the severity of social and economic impact of floods on the communities and industries with respect to their reliance on the flood impacted

2279

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the severity of social and economic impact of floods on the communities and industries with respect to their reliance on the flood impacted critical infrastructure. This paper illustrates a severity assessment tool to determine the reduced serviceability level of critical infrastructure after a disaster, how the change in serviceability impacts activities of associated communities and industries, and the resulting social and economic impact.

Design/methodology/approach

The results presented in this paper are a part of a larger research designed to develop a decision support system for disaster impact mitigation. This research evaluated the impact of floods as a natural hazard on infrastructure and the related industries and communities in terms of criticality and vulnerability of infrastructure and the severity of social and economic impact if the critical infrastructure were to be affected. The overall research focused on the 2008 Midwest floods for the required data collection (including the cities of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Terre Haute, Indiana, St Louis, Missouri, Gulfport and Des Plaines, Illinois). Relevant data were collected through questionnaire surveys, personal interviews, and site visits.

Findings

The data collected through this research highlighted the importance of relationship between infrastructure, communities and industries with respect to technical, social and economic aspects. While the overall research resulted in a Decision Support System with three modules, to assess criticality, vulnerability and severity, this paper only elaborates the Severity Assessment Tool (SAT). Serviceability of an infrastructure plays an important role in post disaster recovery and response. Reduction in the serviceability of an infrastructure also affects the functionality of the activities that depend on the affected infrastructure resulting in social and economic impact. The tool presented in this paper determines the severity of social and economic impact by evaluating the reduction in the functionality of the affected activities.

Originality/Value

The model (SAT) presented in this paper determines the social and economic impact on communities and industries due to natural disaster when the serviceability of disaster impacted critical infrastructure is impaired. This tool can be effectively used by city managers as well as emergency planners for industries and communities in developing mitigation strategies based on the severity of social and economic impact due to the affected critical infrastructure. The results would also help the decision makers in arriving at more effective investment decisions to repair/rehabilitate certain critical infrastructure.

Details

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-124X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 July 2021

Rahsidi Sabri Muda, Ainul Bahiah Mohd Khidzir and Mohamad Faiq Md Amin

Dams are constructed for many purposes such as for power generation, irrigation, water supply and flood control. However, dams can also impose risks to the public, and the…

Abstract

Dams are constructed for many purposes such as for power generation, irrigation, water supply and flood control. However, dams can also impose risks to the public, and the situation could be disastrous if dam failure occurred. The study area, Bertam Valley, is located downstream of hydroelectric dam known as Sultan Abu Bakar Dam, Cameron Highlands. The key objectives of the study are to determine the potential risk area at downstream and to assess the flooding impact on damage to buildings and infrastructures due to dam break event. ArcGIS application and output from two-dimensional flood modelling have been used as an integrated approach to analyse the impact due to dam break flood, by creating flood severity grid analysis. The result obtained shows that the estimated inundated area is about 0.28 km2, and almost 197 buildings are potentially affected. Results from this study show that in the event of dam break, the huge volume of impounding water will pound to the downstream areas, threatening the populations, and environment along its path. The finding is useful to assist the local authorities and emergency responders in formulating an emergency procedure to save the people during an emergency.

Details

Water Management and Sustainability in Asia
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-114-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2015

Namrata Bhattacharya Mis, Rotimi Joseph, David Proverbs and Jessica Lamond

This study aims to investigate the level of preparedness among property owners who had experienced flood damage to their properties in two cities in England following the summer…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the level of preparedness among property owners who had experienced flood damage to their properties in two cities in England following the summer floods of 2007. Flooding can have a variety of impacts on residential properties and businesses that may be unprepared and therefore vulnerable to both direct and indirect effects. Research suggests that the focus in analysis of damage to flood plain population (residential and commercial) tends to be on the direct tangible impacts, limiting their ability to recognize the true costs of flooding, thereby leading to unpreparedness to future flooding. Greater understanding of the level of preparedness against different types of flood impacts is likely to contribute towards increased knowledge of the likely resilience of residential and commercial property occupiers.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data obtained through self-administered postal questionnaire survey of floodplain residential and commercial residents provide the basis for the research analysis and findings. The rationale behind choosing the locations for the research was based on the need to investigate areas where a sizeable number of residential and commercial properties were affected during the 2007 event, in this case, Sheffield and Wakefield in the northern part of England were chosen. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis.

Findings

The result of the analysis revealed that non-structural measures have been implemented by more people when compared to other measures, which can be linked to the fact that non-structural measures, in most, cases do not have financial implication to the property owners. The uptake of the other measures (resistance and resilience) is very low. It can be concluded from the findings that the level of implementation of measures to reduce damage from potential future flooding among the flood plain residents is relatively low and mainly focussed towards reducing the direct effects of flooding.

Practical implications

The study argues that increased resilience can be sustainable only by developing integrated attitude towards risk reduction not only by enhancing coping strategy by reducing direct impacts of flooding but also equally focussing on indirect effects.

Originality/value

There have been previous studies towards investigating the impacts of flooding on residential and commercial property owners as a separate entity. It is believed that this is the first time in which both residential and commercial properties will be investigated together as one body of research.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 December 2017

Riaz Ahmed

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the flood on marriages in flooded households compared to marriages in unaffected households by utilizing the 2010 Pakistani…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the flood on marriages in flooded households compared to marriages in unaffected households by utilizing the 2010 Pakistani flood as a type of natural experiment.

Design/methodology/approach

A difference-in-difference approach is used to estimate the effect of the flood on marriages in 62 flooded districts compared with those in 53 non-flooded districts by utilizing the six waves of the household level surveys data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement, 2004-2005 to 2014-2015.

Findings

Results show that the flood decreased marriages; by 17 marriages per 1,000 individuals aged 15-50 years in flooded districts during the flood year and the effect disappeared after the flood year. The negative impact of the flood on rural marriages is significantly higher and robust.

Social implications

The flood seemingly discouraged individuals in flooded districts to be engaged in long term relationship mainly due to the flood related economic and financial losses. In order to acquire and maintain individual overall well-being, sexual health in vital to maintain mental and physical health, so policy makers/humanitarian aid-providers should assist the affected adults financially or by arranging their marriages at least during the flood year. The study also suggests that the delay of marriages means the accumulation of human capital in the form of school attainment of male marriages, so younger adult should be discouraged marrying at early age.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature in the following ways: first, the study empirically investigates the impact of flood – both immediate and long term – on marriage rates by using a natural experiment. Second, it examines the relationship based on geographic location and gender. Third, it investigates the impact of natural hazards on child marriage.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

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